Scottish Scouts visit America to earn Explorer Belt awards

July 6, 2013

HARPERS FERRY - Four boys from Glasgow, Scotland, are hiking the Appalachian Trail between Harpers Ferry and York, Pa., to learn about the Civil War and complete their Explorer Belt, the highest award in Scottish Scouts for their age group.

Explorer Scouts Callum Holt, 17; Andrew Moore, 17; Max Merrill, 16; and Stuart Mackle, 17, represent the Scottish Scouting for Clyde Region, and are part of 60 scouts comprising 14 teams visiting the U.S. to achieve this award. All 14 teams used Harpers Ferry as a base camp for planning their routes.

Leaders assembled their team and, although three of the four boys knew each other through scouting events, they all attend different schools and scout troops in Scotland. The boys soon realized they would enjoy making the trip together and dubbed their group "Team Maracas" after understanding they might see rattlesnakes in their travels.

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Photo by Katherine Cobb

Scottish Scouts Callum Holt, Stuart Mackle, Max Merrill and Andrew Moore are working on their Explorer Belt awards by taking a 10-day expedition to explore America’s Civil War that began in Harpers Ferry on July 1.

The Explorer Belt is a 10-day expedition designed to bring a real understanding of a different country, its people and way of life to participating scouts. To complete the award, a scout must be more than 16 years old, be a member of either Explorer Scouts or the scout network, plan and train for an international expedition as part of a small team, travel to another country and travel through that country over 10 days, complete a self selected major project, complete 10 smaller projects, keep a notebook or diary during the expedition, take part in a debriefing after the expedition and make a presentation about the expedition.

"Our major project is based around the Civil War," Holt said. "The Battle of Gettysburg is one of the most famous battles from the war. Our project looks at how the war affected everywhere we're visiting and includes a visit to the National Park and battlefield. We're meeting with a college history lecturer who is going to tell us about the details of the battle and show us what happened where."

"The projects revolve around community work and engaging with people in the area we are visiting so we planned our route around the Appalachian Trail," he added. "Since we needed to cover 100 miles, we looked at towns and villages around the D.C. area near the AT that had interesting projects or attractions we could contribute to as part of our expedition."

The boys also decided since they were using the AT, they should help maintain the trail and plan to as they travel their route.

Although the scouts landed initially in Washington, D.C., where they enjoyed an array of capital sights, their official expedition route began in Harpers Ferry. It takes them through Shepherdstown, Boonsboro, Hagerstown, Greencastle, Waynesboro, Carroll Valley, Gettysburg, New Oxford, Spring Grove and York.

The team was given five of its 10 minor projects before the trip: visit an American scout troop, school and movie theatre and compare to their experiences with the same in Scotland; meet with an American charity and learn about their goals, and appear in the local press.

The remaining five minor projects were given to the boys by their leadership team on their first official day.

"They were a complete surprise to us," Holt said.

All four boys chuckled a bit as they remembered the list: take part in an American sport, have a meal with an American family, teach a ceilidh dance (the dancing that takes place at traditional Scottish gatherings), find out about a local custom or folk belief and find a local craft and take part in it.

The boys whittled away at their list while staying at the home of Rachel and Malcolm Hally in Shepherdstown. They attended a scout meeting, enjoyed an American meal and got a private tour from Shepherd University's George Tyler Moore Center for the Study of the Civil War.

They were also amazed by their trip to the local grocery store, where prices were far lower than Scotland's and clerks bagged the groceries for customers. They visited their first Wal-Mart, which they said to be "the greatest store in the world."